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Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Don't Hug Me I'm Scared 4: Digital Dancing!! (Review)

Finally, the moment we have been waiting for - an update to DHMIS (Don't Hug Me I'm Scared) and this is Don't Hug Me I'm Sacred 4! The setting is in table where the three puppets are playing a little quiz game.

As this is Harry / Red Guy's episode (if you follow my DHMIS 3 review) this focuses mostly on him, as he raises the question, "What's the biggest thing in the world?" Here's my review.

First of all, am I the only one who noticed the mini Malcolm statue on top of the fireplace?

But okay, even though I was expecting Gilbert to NOT be the teacher of DHMIS 4, I'd have to say Gilbert getting interrupted by the Computer (name TBA) who has a funny old-man like voice is really funny for an April Fools 2015 joke. Clever boy... (could he also be inspired of Cleverbot?)

But look, Tony and Paige (Notepad) hints are still also in the movie - the clock on computer and the "Get Creative" with a notepad on the cork board! Mind you, some people are already shipping Tony with Computer because if you recall, DHMIS 2 had a scene where Tony points "but look, a computer!"

So, pretty much what it says, it's about the Internet and its bad effects to not just children, but also adults and the rest of the people like us. Computer requests "information" from us and gets us sidetracked all the time, when we are actually searching for just one thing (in the puppet's case, the answer to the quiz question). But I'd have to admit I screamed so hard when Manny / Yellow Guy said his favorite food was "spaghetti" (does Becky know people ship him and Harry, including me? XD)

Side note: did you see Becky's square character (I think from the first episode) behind? I sure did!

I'd also have to say that I felt so intense when Harry shouted "SHUT UP!" and slammed the computer and the computer was like "DON'T TOUCH ME!" Just, wow.

Uhm, okay the "digital world" seemed glitchy and scary at first, true to the original creepypasta nature of the earlier episodes (a lot scarier this time, compared to DHMIS3), but check out this wonderful 3D animation! I think the Tony x Computer thing is more hinted here because both of their videos had additional animation (for Tony's it's the Victorian time).

Check out the bottom right - is that Tony? And are the clouds the clouds inside Notepad's pages?

But check out the clown on the left of Harry - it's the clown painting from the first episode!

Perhaps this is the catchiest part of the whole song and the the movie - the three things you can do on the Internet: 1. Graphs (represents online user statistics, or some people say it's business-minded people slowly losing and getting distracted with online leisure), 2. "Digital Style" (obviously means #Selfie) and 3. "Digital Dancing" refers to instant-fame YouTubers who only dance or sing their way to fame (I can SO RELATE on this topic, especially in our country).

Okay, so Roy is also here! Also, I think those guys on the computer are from Becky and Joe's old puppets, exhibited somewhere in their website (Happy Circle and Angry Triangle, I'm not sure).

But oh my... does this scene mean Minecraft? Some user comments say so. Or it could just be being "digitized" in general. But no, I think it could also pertain to Minecraft's "end poem" that tackles about the player's "existence in a dream" and "confusion with identity", which this DHMIS 4 somehow touches upon, since the Internet is like our escapism, much like the player escapes to Minecraft.

But okay, here's the shocking thing that I wasn't expecting: Harry exits to a "taping" of a fake DHMIS 1 with fake puppets and a fake notepad! And Harry's head explodes into a balloon pop? What the actual f---?????

Okay, so here's my final verdict for Don't Hug Me I'm Scared 4. I think this one maintains the momentum of the series and fandom, and I'm looking forward to more awesome stuff. I really love the April Fools and the crack ending. Although this is already an obvious message to most of us, it's still a very fun thing to watch and talk about.

But okay one thing: I'm still not sure if there is an actual "plot" that connects all the stories. I'm not sure what computer's role might be, but could it be that he's from the future that Tony visited? This is considering all the other teachers are from the current date of the series (June 19, 1955), which recurs throughout everything in the movies. Nonetheless, beautiful. Well done again, Becky and Joe -- time to do some digital dancing!!! :D